Israel passes laws to restrict the work of a UN agency that is a lifeline to Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli lawmakers passed two laws Monday that could threaten the work of the main UN agency providing aid to people in Gaza by banning it from operating on Israeli territory, cutting ties with it.

The laws, which will not take effect immediately, mark a new low for a long-troubled relationship between Israel and the UN. Israel’s international allies said they were deeply concerned about their potential impact on the Palestinians given the Gaza war the humanitarian toll continues to worsen.

According to the first law, the UN agency for Palestinian refugeesor UNRWA, would be prohibited from conducting “any activity” or providing any service within Israel. The second law would sever Israel’s diplomatic ties with the agency.

The laws threaten to collapse the already fragile aid distribution process in Gaza, at a time when Israel is under increasing pressure from the US to increase aid. The head of UNRWA called them “a dangerous precedent.”

Israel has claimed that some of UNRWA’s thousands of personnel participated in last year’s Hamas attacks that caused the war in Gaza. It has also said that hundreds of UNRWA employees have militant links and that it has found Hamas military assets in or under the organization’s facilities.

The agency dismissed nine employees after an investigation but denied that it knowingly supports armed groups and said it is moving quickly to purge suspected militants from its ranks. Some of Israel’s allegations prompted major international donors to cut funding for the agency, although some has been restored.

Israel has occasionally raided or attacked UNRWA schools or other facilities during the war, claiming militants were active there. UNRWA says more than 200 workers have died during the war.

“The law we have now passed is not just a bill. It is a call for justice and a wake-up call,” said parliamentarian Boaz Bismuth, who co-sponsored one of the bills. “UNRWA is not an aid organization for refugees. It is an aid organization for Hamas.”

The head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, said the new laws are part of an “ongoing campaign to discredit UNRWA.”

“These bills will only deepen the suffering of Palestinians, especially in Gaza,” he said on the social platform X.

The first vote passed 92 to 10 and followed a fiery debate between supporters of the law and its opponents, mainly members of Arab parliamentary parties. The second bill was approved by a vote of 87 to 9.

An English-language report on The post did not say how, and it was not clear how the flow of aid would be affected once these bills become law.

Together, the laws would effectively cut ties with the U.N. agency, strip it of legal immunities and limit its ability to support Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The legislation does not provide for alternative organizations to monitor its work.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said UNRWA would be prevented from carrying out work mandated by the UN General Assembly if the laws are implemented. “There is no alternative to UNRWA,” he said in a statement on Monday evening.

Guterres called on Israel to “act consistently with its obligations” under the UN Charter and international law, as well as the privileges and immunities of the United Nations. “National legislation cannot change these obligations,” Guterres stressed in a statement.

Israel’s international allies have opposed these moves

The changes could be a serious blow to Palestinians in Gaza. More than 1.9 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, and Gaza faces widespread shortages of food, water and medicine.

International aid groups and a handful of Israel’s Western allies, including the US, have strongly opposed it.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, speaking to reporters in Washington before the election, said the administration was “deeply concerned” by the legislation. “There is no one who can replace them right now, in the middle of the crisis,” he said.

UNRWA provides education, health care and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The laws would come into effect 60 to 90 days after Israel’s Foreign Ministry notifies the UN, said spokesman for lawmaker Dan Illouz, a co-sponsor of one of the bills.

The death toll in Gaza exceeds 43,000 as Israeli incursions continue

The death toll from more than a year of fighting has passed 43,000, Gaza officials said Monday. The Palestinian Health Ministry’s count does not distinguish between civilians and fighters, but says more than half of the dead are women and children.

The rising death toll comes as Israel refocuses its offensive on hard-hit northern Gaza, including on a hospital from which the army says militants were operating.

Israeli forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital on Friday. An Israeli military official said Monday on condition of anonymity and in accordance with regulations that heavy fighting took place around the hospital, but not inside it, and that weapons had been found in the facility. The military said Monday that the attack had ended.

Israel has raided several hospitals in Gaza over the years of war, saying Hamas and other militants are using them for military purposes. Palestinian medical officials deny these allegations and accuse the military of recklessly endangering civilians.

The Israeli military said it arrested 100 suspected Hamas militants in the latest raid. The Israeli official said the medical staff were detained and searched because some militants had disguised themselves as medics.

The World Health Organization accused Israel of detaining 44 male hospital workers. It was not immediately clear why there was a difference in the figures. Palestinian medical officials said the hospital, which treated about 200 patients, was badly damaged in the raid.

The Israeli army has called on Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza, where it has been waging a major offensive for more than three weeks. The official said the operation in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya would last “several more weeks.”

The The UN spoke earlier this month of at least 400,000 people are located in northern Gaza, an area that was an early target of Israel’s retaliatory war. Hunger is rampant there as the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the north has plummeted in the past month.

The Israel-Hamas war started after that militants from Hamas and other groups stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and kidnapping 250 others. The war has roiled the Middle East and led to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as between Israel and Iran, arch-enemies who had long viewed their conflict as a shadow war but are now openly fighting.

International mediators renew efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza

After the collapse at the end of the summer, international mediators tried to jump-start the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israel said it would continue talks on ending fighting after the head of the Mossad organization, David Barnea, returned from a meeting in Qatar with the head of the CIA, David Burns, and Qatar’s prime minister.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi has proposed a two-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of four hostages. Israel seemed to respond to this idea.

An Israeli official said Israel discussed the proposal both internally and with Egyptian officials. A second official said Netanyahu expressed enthusiasm for the proposal during a meeting with his Likud party on Monday.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.

Hamas has yet to formally respond to the plan and Hamas officials could not be reached for comment on Monday.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Michelle Chapman in New York and Julia Frankel and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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In this version it has been corrected that the service is not classified as a terrorist organization.

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